Automatic mail-delivering apparatus.



L. BECKER.

AUTOMATIC MAIL DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 001'. e, 1909.

950,590. n Patented Mar. 1, 1910.

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L. BECKER.

AUTOMATIC MAIL DELIVERING APPARATUS.

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L. BECKER.

AUTOMATIC MAIL DELIVERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 8, 1909.

950,590. Patented Mar. 1, 1910.

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LOUIS BECKER, OF BATH, SOUTH DAKOTA.

AUTOMATIC MAIL-DELIVERING APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, LoUIs BECKER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bath, in the county of Brown and State of South Dakota, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in AutomaticMail-Delivering Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in automatic maildelivering apparatus, and more particularly to new and novel meanswhereby the mail pouches may be automatically delivered to the car whilethe train is in motion.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a mechanism of thischaracter which will be simple and inexpensive in construction andabsolutely positive in its operation.

A further object is to provide a bag delivering or propelling devicearranged adjacent to the railroad track, which is adapted to throw thebag violently outward and into the car, suitable means being arrangedWithin the interior of the car and operated by the impact of the bagthereagainst to automatically close the car doors.

A still further object is to provide very novel means positionedadjacent to the railroad track and adapted to engage with suitable meansearried by the car, to automatieally open the doors at the instant ofthe delivery of the mail pouch.

lVith these and other objects in view, the present invention consists inthe combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter morefully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, itbeing understood that changes in the specific structure shown anddescribed may be made within the scope of the claims without departingfrom the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views,Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved mail delivering apparatus,the top of the car being removed, Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line22 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the car, Fig. 4 is a sectiontaken on the line 4-4: of Fig. 1, showing the position of the variousparts immediately before the operation of the apparatus, Fig. 5 is asection taken on the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 6, 1909.

Patented Mar. 1, 1910.

Serial No. 521,205.

line 5--5 of Fig. 1, Fig. (3 is a detail view of the latch operatingarm.

Referring to the drawings 5 indicates a mail car which is mounted uponthe tracks (3. The car 5 is provided with the sliding doors 7 which aremounted .in grooves or channels 8 formed in the side of the car. Thedoors are provided at their upper and lower edges with the flanges J, inwhich are mounted the anti-friction rollers 10. A leaf spring 11 has itsends secured to the inner edges of the doors, and normally tends toretain the doors in open position. A spring latch bar 12 is secured toone of the doors and engages in a U-shaped keeper bar 1; secured to theother of the doors. The operation of the latch bar and the automaticopening of the sliding doors will be more fully set forth in thefollowing description.

Arranged in the interior of the car there is a wire frame 1 1, on whichis movably mounted the mail pouch-receiving member 15. The frame 1 1 issubstantially rectan gular in form, and the member 15 is mounted thereonby means of the eyes 16 which are secured at each of the cornersthereof. Arranged at the top and bottom of the car, and upon either sideof the center thereof are the pulleys 17, over which the cables 18 pass,the ends of said cables being secured to the pouch receiving member 15,the other ends of the cables being secured to the doors 7 Arrangedinjuxtaposition to the car track, there is a mail pouch deliveringdevice, which comprises a base 20, having cent ally secured thereto ahousing 21. Within this housing a pivoted transversely extending arm isarranged, and is provided upon its forward end with a roller 23. Securedt0 the rear of the housing is the trigger 2a, which is adapted to engagewith the delivery plate and retain the plate in a horizontal positionagainst the tension of a spring 26 which is coiled upon the rod 27 onwhich the delivery plate is pivoted. The spring 26 is coiled from itsends inwardly toward the center of the plate, and is rearwardly extendedtherefrom as shown at 26. The rear end of the arm 22 is positioned inanopening formed in the housing, and engages with a spring plate 28secured to the lower end of the trigger 24:. The trigger 21 is looselysecured to the housing, so as to allow a certain amount of transversepivotal movement thereof. Extending laterally from opposite sides of thedelivery plate 25, are the lugs 29 which are adapted to engage with thestop bars 30 secured to the sides of the housing, and to limit theforward movement of the plate 25. The roller 23 which is secured to theforward end of the bar 22 is engaged by a detent 31 carried by the car.This detent is in the form of a block, the lower edge of which isinclined downwardly from its ends, thus forming a substantiallytriangular shaped member. The inclined lower edges of this block areadapted to contact with the roller and as the train moves, the bar willthus be depressed which will oscillate the trigger 24 and release thesame from engagement with the delivery plate.

In order to open the car doors at the proper moment, or at the instantwhen the mail pouch is delivered, I have provided the standards 32 whichare mounted in the base 20. These standards are formed in two sections,pivotally connected, the upper section being laterally movable to anoperative and inoperative position. The upper ends of these standardsare provided with the laterally disposed blocks 33. The outer faces ofthese blocks are rounded, and are adapted to engage with the end of apivoted arm 34 which is arranged upon the car door that is provided withthe spring latch plate 12. In this manner the latch 12' is released, andthe leaf spring 11 will force the doors 7 open. This action will takeplace at the moment that the trigger is released from engagement withthe delivery plate 25, whereupon the mail pouch will be violently throwninto the car.

The upper pivoted portion of the standards 32 may be held in positionagainst lateral movement by means of the pivoted plate 34 which isarranged upon one side of the lower portion of the standard.

The operation of my improved delivery apparatus will be obvious from theabove description. After the mail pouches or sacks have been placed uponthe delivery plate 25, and the rear edge thereof engaged with thetrigger 24, the various parts are in position to be actuated by theapproaching train. Presuming that the car doors 7 are closed, the outerend of the pivoted arm 34 will engage with the outer convex face of oneof the blocks 33 secured to the standards 32. The inner end of this armwill be moved outwardly, and as it is engaged behind the latch bar itwill be seen that the bar will be moved outwardly and disengaged fromthe keeper 13. The leaf spring 11 which is arranged between the inneredges of the doors will immediately force the doors to open position.When the doors are thus opened, the delivery mechanism is actuated asbefore described and the sack or pouch discharged from the plate 25 andthrown violently forward through the opening in the side of the car. Theforce of the delivery of the pouch and the impact resulting therefromupon the receiving member 15 will move the receiving member inwardlyupon the wire frame 14, and as this member is connected to the doors 7by means of the cables 18, it will be ob vious that during the inward ortransverse movement of the member 15, the doors will be drawn togetherand closed. The resili ency of the latch bar 12 is such that it will.hold the doors securely closed against the expansive tension of thespring 11, or any possibility of the accidental opening of the doors dueto the vibration of the car. Vhile gr, I have shown means by which thedoors may be automatically closed, it will be understood that if desiredthe frame 14 and receiving member 15 together with the pulleys andcables may be eliminated, and the doors 5 closed by the occupants of thecar. Owing to the simplicity of construction of the V mechanism abovedescribed, the automatic operation of the doors is preferred. The timeand attention of the mail clerks is also rendered unnecessary, as theapparatus isentirely automatic in its operation, and requires noattention whatever beyond the removal of the mail pouch after the samehas been deposited in the car and the doors thereof closed.

The receiving member 15 would preferably be made of canvas or otherdurable material, and suitably padded, so as to prevent injury to themail pouches and constant repairing thereof. The various parts of theapparatus are all formed of stock material, whereby the device may bevery inexpensively manufactured, and when arranged as above describedwill provide anefficient and durable delivering apparatus.

hat is claimed is:

1. An automatic mail receiving apparatus comprising a car, sliding doorsadapted to close an opening in said car, a frame ar- 11o ranged in theinterior of said car, a mail bag receiving member movably mountedcn saidframe, means arranged in juxtaposition to the car track adapted to opensaid doors, and a mail bag throwing mechanism adapted to be operated bymeans carried by said car to violently discharge the bag to move thereceiving member and close said doors.

2. An automatic mail receiving apparatus comprising a car, sliding doorsadapted to close an opening 111 said car, a frame arranged in theinterior of said car, a mail bag receiving member transversely movableon said frame, a latch adapted to close said doors, a spring arrangedbetween said doors to open the same, means arranged in juxta position tothe car track adapted to operate said latch to open the doors, a mailbag throwing mechanism, and a detent carried by the car adapted tooperate said mechanism and violently discharge the bag against thereceiving member, the movement of said receiving member closing saiddoors against the expansive action of said spring.

3. An automatic mail receiving apparatus comprising a car, sliding doorsadapted to close an opening in said car, a frame arranged in theinterior of said car, a mail bag receiving member transversely movableupon said frame, pulleys arranged in said opening at the top and bottomof the car, cables secured to said doors and to the receiving member andpassing over said pulleys, a spring disposed between said doors at thebottom thereof and ada ted to open the same, a spring latch bar at aptedto hold said doors closed against the expansive action of said spring,means arranged in juxtaposition to the car track adapted to operate saidlatch bar and open said doors, a mail bag throwing mechanism, adetentcarried by said car adapted to operate said mechanism andViolently discharge the bag against the receiving member, the impact ofsaid bag moving said receiving member inwardly and closing said doors.

l. An automatic mail'receiving apparatus comprising a car, sliding doorsadapted to close an opening in said car, a frame arranged in theinterior of said car, a mail bag receiving member movably mounted onsaid frame, said members being connected to said doors and adapted toautomatically close the same, a spiral spring having its ends secured tosaid doors, sald spring normally act ing to open said doors, a springlatch bar adapted to retain said doors in closed position, a pivoted armengaging with said latch bar to release the same, blocks arrangedadjacent to the car track, said blocks being movable into and out of thepath of movement of said pivotedarm, a spring actuated bag throwingplate, and means carried by the car to release said plate to violentlydischarge the bag upon said receiving member as said doors are opened.

An automatic mail receiving apparatus comprising a car, sliding doorsadapted to close an opening in said car, a movable bag receiving memberarranged within the car, said doors bein connected to said member andautomatictlly closed by the movement thereof, means normally adapted toopen said doors, a spring latch adapted to hold said doors closed, apivoted arm engaged with said latch and transversely positioned withrelation thereto, blocks arranged adjacent to the car track and movableinto operative and inoperative position, said blocks being adapted toengage the outer end of said arm to release said latch and open thedoors, a mail delivery plate pivotally mounted between said blocks, aspring adapted to be placed under tension, a trigger adapted to retainsaid plate in a horizontal position under the tension of said spring,and means carried by the car adapted to release said trigger and deliverthe mail into the car as the doors are opened.

0. A mail receiving apparatus comprising a car, sliding doors adapted toclose an opening in said car, a spring arranged between said doorsnormally acting to open the same, a spring latch adapted to hold saiddoors closed, an arm pivotally mounted upon one of said doors andtransversely POSltlOllCtl thereon, the inner end of said arm beingengaged with the rea r face of the latch bar, in combination with a maildelivering device arranged in juxtaposition to the car track andcomprising a base, a housing arranged centrally of said base, a deliveryplate mounted upon the exterior of said housing upon a lateral barsecured thereto, a spring coiled upon said bar between the sides of saidplate, the central portion of said spring being rearwardly extended, anarm pivoted in said housing, said arm extending through an openingformed in the rear of the housing, a trigger pivoted upon the exteriorof the housing and engaged with the rear end of said arm, the forwardend of said arm having a roller secured thereto, a block carried by saidcar having lower inclined edges adapted to engage with said roller torelease the trigger from engagement with said delivery plate, stopssecured to the sides of said housing to limit the forward movement ofsaid delivery plate, and means supported upon said base and engagingwith the outer end of said pivoted arm to open said doors upon theactuation of the mail delivering mechanism.

7 A mail receiving apparatus comprising a car, having an openingtherein, doors movable over said opening, means arranged upon theinterior of said car and connected to said doors adapted to close thedoors upon the delivery of the mail bag to the car, in combination witha delivery apparatus comprising a base, a housing arranged upon saidbase, a spring actuated delivery plate pivoted upon a laterallypositioned bar secured upon said housing, lugs extending from the sidesof said plate, stops secured to the sides of said housing adapted tolimit the forward movement of said plate, a spring coiled upon said rodbetween the sides of said plate, a pivoted arm extending longitudinallythrough said hoiiising, the rear end of said arm being positioned in anopening formed in the housing, a trigger pivoted to the rear of thehousing, said trigger having a plate attached to its lower end engagingwith said arm, said trigger being adapted to engage with the rear edgeof said delivery plate and retain the same in a horizontal positionunder the tension of said spring, the forward end of said pivoted armhaving a roller secured thereto, a block carried by said car adapted toengage With said roller to release said trigger, blocks secured tostandards arranged upon the base at opposite sides of said housing, saidblocks being movable into and out of operative position, means forholding the blocks in operative position, said blocks being adaptedtoengage With means carried by one of the car doors to automaticallyopen the same uponthe operation of the delivery apparatus.

8. A mail receiving apparatus comprising a car, an opening in one sideof said car, said opening being normally closed by suitable doorsslidably mounted in the side of the car, a mail bag receiving membermovably arranged Within the car and connected to said doors, the impactof the bag upon said receiving member being adapted to automaticallyclose said doors, in combination With a carried by said doors adapted toretain the same in closed position, a leaf spring arranged between theinner edges of said doors tending. to open the same, and means pivotallymounted upon one of said doors adapted to contact With members arrangedupon either side of the mail delivering mechanism, to automatically opensaid doors at the instant of the operation of the mail deliveringmechanism.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence of tWo Witnesses.

his LOUIS BECKER.

mark Witnesse's W. O. JONES, G. E. PONTOW.

